Trouble in Paradise
by Darkfire Galaxy
Summary: Set when the characters are much older. Rhydian wants to move in properly with Maddy, but things have seemed perfect before and been snatched from them. Can he get over his doubts and remove the wedge driven between them? (My stories have a habit of not uploading properly, so please bare with me. May also be subject to editing.)


Wolfblood

Trouble in Paradise

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own NONE of the content used in this fanfic. All characters and so on belong to their original creators.

Mrs Vaughn knew something was wrong when Rhydian returned home with a face like thunder. He flopped down on the sofa, letting the banner he was designing fall to the ground. Even now, almost twenty years after the business with Canada and the Smiths, Mrs Vaughn still said that Rhydian could stay with her for as long as he needed. Rhydian had returned with the Smiths, after Maddy's inability to settle in Canada even with Rhydian there had left her parents with no choice. As far as Mrs Vaughn was concerned, the 'uncle' that Rhydian had gone to live with was tragically caught in a blizzard and passed away, so Rhydian had moved in with the Smiths. When they'd all returned, Mrs Vaughn had let Rhydian move back in with her, to give them all time to adjust.

"What's wrong, love? What's got you worked up?" she asked, sitting down next to him.

"It's nothing much, just Maddy." Rhydian said.

"She's a lovely girlfriend to have. I don't think you could have picked a better bunch than the Smiths if you tried." Mrs Vaughn had been slow to take to Maddy, and Emma had been slow to take to Rhydian, but they'd all talked it over and patched things over relatively well.

"We've just broken up." Rhydian muttered.

"She's a cow! I never liked her!" Mrs Vaughn snapped. "I told you that you could do better! It's no wonder you dumped her!"

"I didn't dump her." Rhydian said sharply. "She broke up with me, because I wouldn't move back in with her yet."

"She wants you to leave home again?"

"Her Gran just died and left the Smiths her house in a will. Maddy's parents want her to have it and she wants me to move back in with her when she officially gets the house and everything." Rhydian had to double check that the veins in his hands weren't showing. He'd almost mastered control, but he'd never been in agony like this. Even now, the Vaughns didn't know the Wolfblood secret. Rhydian was scared that if they found out, they'd throw him out. He'd considered telling them, but it just wasn't worth the risk.

"I think it's far too early for you to leave home." Mrs Vaughn said. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't have let you go to Canada that other time. No, it's definitely too soon. And you're so young as well." Rhydian turned to give her a disparaging look.

"I'm thirty-three!"

"That's my exact point." Mrs Vaughn said. "I'm just coming up for sixty and I still get asked for ID when I buy an 18 rated DVD."

"Look, I get that you, Ollie and Joe must be sick of me coming and going, but the reason I didn't want to move in with Maddy isn't because I don't love her." Rhydian said. "I just feel that things have seemed perfect too many times now. I want to know that if I decide to do this with her, nothing's going to happen where we get bounced around from one answer to another. I just want something permanent. I want some solid ground under my feet."

"I know that feeling well enough." Mrs Vaughn said. "If you ask my cousin Ella, she'll tell you. The two of us went to a party once. We were really dressed to impress. We looked fantastic. Well, I did anyway. We turned up and the place was manic. There was smoke everywhere, lights flashing all over the place and fit men running around in really tight shirts with ridiculous yellow hats on. We were there for about ten minutes before we realised the place was on fire. My husband was more help there than any other time in his life. And he sat around doing nothing even then."

"Not to be rude, but is there a specific direction you're going here?" Rhydian asked.

"The point I'm trying to make here is that I saw what I wanted and I went for it." Mrs Vaughn told him. "You can't just wait for things to fall into place. You have to work for it yourself. Do you remember when those Mormons came round? They said to me, 'Mrs Vaughn, yourself and God keep a lovely home.' I was thanking them for the compliment, but I was thinking that if God had it to himself, it wouldn't be nearly this pristine. There would be dust and cobwebs all over the place. I worked to get the house and the family to where it is today. I'll grant you, some of it involved waiting, but overall, you just have to strive towards an outcome and if it's not the one you want then it's up to you to change it. No one will do that for you any more. You're a man now and you control your life." Rhydian took a moment to think about this, then turned and hugged Mrs Vaughn.

"I'm going for a shower." He said. "I have some thinking to do."

"You certainly do." Mrs Vaughn muttered as he left.

Return of the dreaded Line Break!

Maddy arrived home and slumped on the sofa. It was about two seconds before she burst into tears. Emma was by her side in an instant.

"Rhydian and I broke up!" Maddy sobbed. Emma wrapped her up in a tight hug and waited until Maddy cried herself out. "He didn't like the idea of moving in with me again." Maddy sniffed, sounding confused. "I don't get it, Mum. I thought this was what he'd been waiting for. I thought he wanted the two of us to move in together and be away from him being dependant on you two and the Vaughns for a roof over his head. Here I was, finally able to offer that, and he suddenly doesn't want it. Is it something to do with me?"

"Don't ever say that, Maddy." Emma said. "You two will be fine. Alphas can never really break up. You're not humans for god's sake. I don't know what Rhydian's reasons are, but I would give the pair of you a couple of days to cool off. You'd be surprised how many disputes me and your father had before we had you and before we were married. You should see the disputes we had over whether or not to _get_ married."

"How did you two get over problems?" Maddy asked.

"We sorted it out ourselves, like wolves." Emma told her. "The only thing missing was a referee; and maybe a big slab of meat."

"Mum, can we be serious here please?" Maddy muttered.

"I'm being serious, cub. If you want something to reach an outcome you want, you can't just sit on your tail and wait for it, then tuck your tail between your legs when you find out it isn't coming. You have to work for it. No one's going to do that for you now. We're alpha females, Maddy; we need to climb as high in the world as quickly as we can without coming over so strong that no male wants you. It's the same as being a mother really. You have to have that balance between being tough and being gentle just right."

"I'm definitely not ready to be a parent." Maddy said.

"For Christ's sake, Maddy, no female is. Any mother you speak to will tell you the same thing. You're an amateur parent with an amateur cub. Just when you have the job right, they get a boyfriend, get left a house in a will, and sod off into a world of their own with no time for the parents until those parents turn into grandparents."

"When I do move into the house, be it with Rhydian or not, I'll never be far away." Maddy giggled, giving her mum a small hug.

"Don't you threaten me!" Emma said sharply. Maddy laughed at that.

"Just for the record, what's it like having a cub around the house?" Maddy asked.

"I'll tell you that for free." Emma muttered. "You don't know yourself with a cub around. You and Mr Right are going to know each other, love each other and sometimes you'll hate each other with the ice cold passion of a million full moons. You won't know your feelings towards yourself or your actions either; especially towards the cub. Sometimes you find yourself wishing you had more of them and sometimes you'll wish you kept your ideas- and your knees- together. And above all, it's tough as hell, yet simple at the same time. If they're hungry, you feed them. If and when there's an accident, you either pick them up or wipe their backsides in accordance with the nature of it and if they cry, you cuddle them. That goes on for thirty-three years."

"Emma, is there any ham left in the fridge?" Dan called.

"Make that sixty-five years." Emma said under her breath. Maddy burst out laughing.

"Thanks Mum. I'm just going to get a shower. I have some thinking to do."

Line Break!

Rhydian woke early the morning to his mobile blasting his ringtone into the room. He pressed the answer button and heard the one voice he never expected to hear.

"Rhydian, I need to talk to you. Can you meet me by that place where we had our first kiss?" Rhydian shuddered with that memory, now burned into his brain by Maddy's voice.

"I'll be there at mid day." Rhydian hung straight up, not daring to think what this would mean. Maddy and he had shared that first kiss, just as Maddy and her parents were leaving; forced from Stoneybridge and the home they loved by Whitewood. It was one of the happiest seconds of his life, because they'd officially become alphas with that kiss, but it was also the second that tore him apart for months on end. Was she bringing him to the place where they got together just to break up? Just then, there was a knock at Rhydian's door. Rhydian picked up Joe's scent and called for him to come in. Ollie and Joe were both in their early twenties now and looking to move out.

"Is something wrong, Joe?" Rhydian asked.

"I was just wondering if you had any advice." Joe muttered. "My girlfriend and I are looking for a place to live, but the ones we like, we can't afford."

"What can I honestly say?" Rhydian muttered. "Apartments are just a game of patience."

"We can't be patient, Rhydian. She's on borrowed time in the place she's in now. We have to get somewhere by the end of the week."

"I wish I could help you, Joe. But Maddy and I have our own problems right now."

"I know for a fact that's Bullcrap." Joe said. "Ollie and I have been watching the two of you for nearly two decades now. We see how you look at each other and we see how you act around each other. There is no way in hell that you two can have problems. I think you've got it perfect. Just kiss, make up and get hitched!" Joe turned around and left, leaving Rhydian to his own thoughts. He'd spent a good two hours going over Joe's last statement. Suddenly, it clicked. He'd backed out of moving in with her because he was scared something would happen. All he needed was some form of guarantee. He knew just how to get it as well. Reaching under his bed, he found a box. It was an old one that was designed to confuse any thief. He slid the panel back and pressed the button. The lid swung open to reveal a much smaller box inside. This box was given to him by his mum years ago, to be given to his alpha when the time was right, but not to be opened by him. He had always tried to guess what was in there, but now something in his heart told him. There was only one thing it could be. Rhydian leapt out of bed, freshened up and threw on a set of clothes that he deemed as presentable, but not so smart she may guess what he was about to try and do. Grabbing the box off his bed, he jumped out of his window in true Rhydian style and raced across the town to the outskirts. As he neared the plains that led to the cliffs, he could already see the silhouette of his alpha, her hair blowing gently in the wind. As soon as she spotted him, the two of them raced to meet each other. As soon as they were together again, Rhydian grabbed her in a tight hug, but she was either too angry or too stunned to return it.

"Maddy, I am so sorry we even had that fight. I shouldn't have put my wants before your need for our privacy and-" Maddy placed a hand over his mouth, silencing him.

"Don't you even thing about apologising!" she growled. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I realise you've had a lot to adjust to over the years and you battled through it just so the two of us could work out, so I'm so sorry that I forgot the weight you're carrying. I shouldn't have made such a fuss of us moving in together."

"Yes, you should." Rhydian said, gently cupping the back of her head with his hand.

"You mean you want us to move in together?" Maddy asked.

"There is one condition though." Rhydian told her, slowly reaching into his pocket for the box, slowly studying Maddy's face at the same time to see if it had dawned on her what he was asking of her. Nothing but a blank, confused expression sat on her face, so Rhydian held the box out to her before getting on one knee. "Will you marry me, Maddy Smith?" Maddy's expression ranged from confusion to disbelief, then from disbelief to wonder. Slowly, Maddy opened the box in Rhydian's hand. Inside was a silver ring, with a wolf's head inscribed on the surface. Maddy looked at the ring dumbly for a full minute before gazing down at Rhydian with a look of wonder in her eyes.

"Of course I'll marry you!" Maddy was so overjoyed, that she slipped the ring on, and then threw herself into Rhydian's arms. Unfortunately, he was still picking himself up off one knee, so even Maddy's light weight was enough to send him sprawling. Maddy's cheeks flushed red when she went to pick herself up and saw the position they'd landed in, but neither of them cared too much. The point was that they no longer had trouble in paradise.


End file.
